The place where Ying Li had killed the Mutated Pig was two hundred kilometers from their camp as the crow flies—but with mountains to go around, it was a three-hundred-kilometer drive.
The route was extremely difficult. It passed through an abandoned Ruins City, crossed through a Mutant Bamboo Forest, and traversed a region of many lakes and water pools swarming with mosquitoes.
These mosquitoes had no Energy Crystal Cores and minimal killing power. They couldn’t injure Sentinels, but they moved in dense clouds and were maddeningly annoying.
An ordinary hunting team would need a full day to cross. But Ying Li, riding solo on his motorcycle, moved far faster.
He used his mental power to scout the way ahead, maneuvering his motorcycle at high speed. In less than three hours, he reached his destination.
The site where he’d killed the Mutated Pig had clearly been visited by others, but those people hadn’t stayed.
The commotion of his fight had been too great. The nearby Mutant Beasts had heard the noise and fled. Any hunting team staying there would have wasted their time, so naturally they’d moved on.
This was good news for him.
Ying Li drove a bit farther and came upon a grove of trees. Some of the trees in this grove were tangled with vivid green vines.
As Ying Li approached, the vines didn’t react. The trees, however, tried to lash at him.
Their attack power was no weaker than a B-Rank Mutant Beast’s.
Without hesitation, Ying Li lashed back with his mental power. Then he approached the vines, cut a slit in one with his knife, and collected the vine’s sap.
The vine waved its leaves, making whimpering, sobbing sounds. This spurred the trees to try lashing at Ying Li again.
Again he struck back.
The sap of these particular vines could restore a Sentinel’s or Guide’s mental power. Extended use even enhanced their mental power over time.
The effect was somewhat stronger on Guides—probably due to the intrinsic differences between Sentinel and Guide mental power.
Over the next few hours, Ying Li beat several trees into submission and collected over a dozen jin of vine sap.
In his previous life with the Yu Family hunting team, any such harvest had to be surrendered—half was handed over to the family, and the rest was divided according to contribution. Even if he’d been the one to collect all the sap, of those dozen-plus jin, he’d at most receive two.
But they’d always had arguments to justify it.
The vehicles they drove, the combat suits they wore, the weapons they used—all were provided by the Yu Family, and all were astronomically expensive.
Ying Li packed the sap carefully and drove toward Freedom City.
That forest was large and filled with many such vines. If he’d wanted, he could have gathered far more sap.
But even preserved with the utmost care, this sap lasted at most two or three months. And a dozen-plus jin? Even in two or three months, Xiang Ye would never use it all.
Ying Li had already decided to sell five jin to the Sentinels of Freedom City.
Today, since Ying Li didn’t cause much commotion, he didn’t draw the attention of Freedom City’s perimeter guards. Only when he reached the City Entrance did someone who’d seen him yesterday hurry off to report.
Before long, Ying Li met Ding Hua again.
In his previous life, after Ding Hua died and Freedom City was wiped clean, the matter of all the major families planting moles in Freedom City had naturally come to light.
At the time, some in Starlight City expressed regret, while others envied those who’d become moles in Freedom City.
Those people had all made small fortunes by selling Starlight City goods to Freedom City—enriching themselves enormously.
By naming all those names the moment he’d arrived in Freedom City the previous day, Ying Li had aimed to gain Ding Hua’s trust and also reduce complications for himself—preventing his dealings with Ding Hua from instantly drawing Starlight City’s attention.
“City Lord Ding, have you dealt with those traitors?” Ying Li asked. His deliberately altered voice sounded almost like an AI, making his emotions difficult to read.
“I dealt with them immediately. They had no chance to send word back to Starlight City.” Ding Hua’s piercing gaze fixed on Ying Li’s face. “What exactly do you want in return for telling me all this?”
Ying Li said, “What if I told you I want to overturn the order of Starlight City? Would you believe me?”
Ding Hua’s gaze sharpened further. A vast torrent of mental power pressed down upon Ying Li.
That mental force was like a tsunami, a mudslide, a raging flood—as if it could destroy everything in its path.
But Ying Li was like towering mountain ranges. Unmoving as the peaks, he looked calmly back at Ding Hua.
In truth, Ying Li was suffering. But he didn’t let it show.
He built barrier after barrier with his own mental power to resist Ding Hua’s onslaught.
As time wore on, the barriers Ying Li constructed were broken layer by layer. His Mental Sea reeled under the battering. Just when he felt he was about to collapse, Ding Hua’s mental force finally withdrew.
Ding Hua asked, “Are you confident you can become an S-Rank Sentinel?”
Without sufficient strength, all aspirations were mere fantasy.
Ying Li was utterly certain. “I am.”
Ding Hua, too, had once had a chance to become an S-Rank Sentinel. She was prodigiously talented, worked hard enough, and possessed terrifying combat strength.
Before betraying Starlight City, she had more than once hunted and killed A-Rank Mutant Beasts alone.
If she’d received proper cultivation and formed a Mental Bond with a suitable Guide, she could definitely have risen to S-Rank.
But from the moment she awakened, she’d been under the watchful eyes of Starlight City’s great families.
Ding Hua never had the chance to grow stronger.
Those great families of Starlight City—their ancestors had also been ordinary people from the Upper City District.
Because the Upper District was closest to the surface and thus first exposed to Corrosive Energy, the earliest Sentinels and Guides all emerged there.
After these people became powerful, resentment toward the rulers of the Central District who monopolized resources spurred them to launch a coup and seize control of Starlight City.
Afterward, they began guarding against others walking the same path they had—preventing anyone else from rising up.
Yet Ying Li was determined to walk exactly that path.
When he’d first been reborn, he hadn’t harbored such grand ambitions.
But once he’d calmed down, he recognized a crucial truth.
If he only enhanced his own strength, he couldn’t possibly protect Starlight City from the Beast Tide.
No matter how strong he was, he was just one man. At most, he could kill a single S-Rank Mutant Beast in the Beast Tide.
But that Beast Tide, led by a dual S-Rank Mutant Beast, would include over ten S-Rank Mutant Beasts.
He couldn’t hold them back alone. He had to cultivate manpower.
Yet so long as Starlight City remained in the grip of a few great families, there was no way for him to cultivate that manpower.
Also, waiting until the Mutant Beasts surged into the Underground City would be too late. The best approach was to prevent the disaster before it began—stop that dual S-Rank Mutant Beast from maturing.
Or ensure that human Sentinels matured in turn.
Over the past few centuries, Mutant Beasts had grown stronger in the environment saturated with Corrosive Energy. Once, S-Rank Mutant Beasts were almost unheard of. Now they appeared from time to time. Even dual S-Rank Mutant Beasts had emerged.
And humanity? A century ago, those S-Rank Sentinels had combat strength absolutely surpassing today’s S-Rank Sentinels.
Now, the S-Rank Sentinels of Starlight City were all products of the great families’ resource cultivation. Their actual fighting ability was truly mediocre.
If it weren’t so, they wouldn’t be so afraid of others reaching S-Rank.
The Beast Tide had arrived suddenly, but those great families must have received advance warning.
They simply didn’t organize an evacuation for the citizens of Starlight City—they fled themselves.
They wanted to use Starlight City’s populace to stall the Beasts and had no desire to waste manpower and resources on ordinary people.
Ding Hua stared at Ying Li for a long time without speaking. Ying Li said, “Let’s find somewhere private to talk?”
Ding Hua agreed.
Ying Li led Ding Hua out into the wilderness.
Freedom City was a mix of good and bad. Even though Ying Li had helped Ding Hua purge the traitors, talking in Freedom City still risked being photographed or recorded.
To ensure his own safety, it was better to speak with Ding Hua out here.
Once in the wilderness, Ying Li first handed Ding Hua a box of nutrient paste. “It’s noon. Shall we eat something together?”
Ding Hua glanced at the nutrient paste in her hand. It was the kind specifically formulated for Sentinels venturing outside the city—more expensive and nutritionally richer.
But among similar products, it was the cheapest and most mass-market brand.
Seeing the packaging intact, Ding Hua tore it open and began to eat.
Then she watched as the mysterious man opposite her removed his visor, revealing a young face.
Though she hadn’t been able to identify him, Ding Hua had assumed this mysterious figure would be one of the A-Rank Sentinels she knew.
She’d even suspected he was a member of one of the great families—otherwise, how could he know so many secrets?
But now, with the visor removed, what appeared before her was a face entirely unfamiliar.
And the person before her looked… very young.
Ying Li smiled at Ding Hua. He also unwrapped his nutrient paste and started eating. At the same time, he pulled out his Communication Terminal and displayed his personal information for Ding Hua to see. “City Lord Ding, hello. My name is Ying Li.”
Ying Li trusted Ding Hua. When she had betrayed the Underground City, she’d killed several Sentinel pursuers from the great families—forming a blood feud with them.
Because of that, in his previous life, they’d even dismembered her corpse after she died.
Ding Hua probably wanted to overturn Starlight City’s order even more than he did.
In a single instant, Ding Hua absorbed all of Ying Li’s personal information.
She was stunned.
Now she understood why the man across from her was so confident he could become an S-Rank Sentinel.
This person was only twenty years old!
That wasn’t even half her age!
Only twenty, and he could withstand her mental pressure. Only twenty, and he could hunt A-Rank Mutant Beasts alone.
The person before her was even more outstanding than she herself had once been.
Such a person, logically, would have drawn intense focus from the great families. But the person before her was different.
On his personal information profile, his listed rank was B-Rank Sentinel.
“How did you do it?” Ding Hua asked.
Ying Li said, “When I first awakened, I was only D-Rank. I only rose to C-Rank a few years ago. My talent wasn’t good, so I never attracted much attention. The reason I have my current strength is because at a life-or-death moment, I ate a very special mushroom.”
Ding Hua was silent for a long time before saying, “You had very good luck.”
She’d also once found Heavenly Treasures. It was just that, in the end, they’d never entered her own mouth.
“My luck wasn’t bad. Would you like some meat?” Ying Li produced a Sealed Bag containing the roast meat he and Xiang Ye had prepared the night before.
Xiang Ye had purified over a dozen jin of meat yesterday, but they’d only eaten about eight. The remaining seven jin, Ying Li had roasted and split into two portions. Xiang Ye had one, and he had the other.
The moment Ying Li opened the Sealed Bag, Ding Hua caught the tantalizing aroma. Her gaze pulled irresistibly toward the meat.
So when Ying Li divided the meat in two and handed her half, she didn’t stand on ceremony in the slightest. She took it directly.
Seeing Ying Li already eating, and after examining her portion—confirming the muscle fibers were not human—Ding Hua finally took a bite.
Nowadays, Freedom City had many regulations to follow. Wanton killing was forbidden. But in its early days, things had been different.
When she first escaped Starlight City and arrived at Freedom City, she had seen the inhabitants here eating human flesh.
Actually, it wasn’t just Freedom City where such things happened. Even in Starlight City, there were villains who did the same.
Ding Hua’s mind flashed through many things, but the moment she bit into the roast meat, she had no room for anything else.
This roast meat was unbelievably delicious!
The meat hadn’t been cooked today. Exposed to the wilderness environment, it had inevitably picked up a little contamination. Yet perhaps because she hadn’t had much chance to eat meat in recent years and was desperately craving it, she felt this was the most delicious meat she’d ever tasted in her life. It practically struck straight into her soul.
She wanted to wolf it down in one bite but couldn’t bear to.
After all, her portion was only a small piece. Once it was gone, it was gone.
In the end, Ding Hua ate it bite by tiny bite until it was finished.
Having shared a meal together, a certain bond had formed. Ying Li began discussing future plans with Ding Hua.
He hoped Ding Hua could select and train some people within Freedom City, and he would provide the resources.
He knew quite a few people. Someone like the owner of the auto repair shop, for instance, could supply Freedom City with certain materials.
As for Ding Hua’s own physical condition…
Ding Hua was in her forties now. Though her Mental Sea wasn’t very stable, generally speaking, living to sixty or seventy shouldn’t be a problem. In her previous life, someone had interfered, which was why she died so soon.
As for this life… Ying Li shared the methods he’d worked out for training mental power.
He didn’t dare guarantee Ding Hua could become a Dark Sentinel, but with more care, her Mental Sea condition wouldn’t continue to deteriorate.
After finalizing discussions with Ding Hua and selling her five jin of vine sap, Ying Li saw it was getting late and drove back to camp.
He arrived at camp just as it was time for dinner. Ying Li was about to go out on a picnic with Xiang Ye when he suddenly noticed Xiang Ye’s complexion was off. Immediately, he also realized Xiang Ye’s mental power was completely drained.
“What happened to you?” Ying Li rushed to Xiang Ye’s side and checked his condition with mental power.
Xiang Ye’s mental power was utterly exhausted, but his mood was clearly excellent. His eyes shone bright. “I’m fine. Let’s go out for a picnic.”
Xiang Ye truly didn’t seem to have any problems. Had he pushed himself too hard while training his mental power? Ying Li happened to have a portioned bottle of the vine sap he’d collected today. He pulled it out and held it to Xiang Ye’s lips. “Take a sip.”
Xiang Ye opened his mouth and drank. It was sweet and refreshing—quite tasty.
But he had no time to savor the flavor. The moment he finished drinking, he scrambled up into the Roof Tent.
He was bursting with impatience to go on the picnic with Ying Li. He had to tell Ying Li that he could now purify two hundred jin of meat a day.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Xiang Ye felt his mental power begin to recover rapidly.
He froze, then trembled with excitement.
With this delicious “juice” Ying Li had brought him, he could purify five hundred jin of meat a day! Maybe even more!
Xiang Ye scooped up the several dozen jin of fresh meat Ying Li had brought back the day before and started climbing out of the tent.
Seeing this, Ying Li hurried to take the load from him. But he was puzzled—one day had passed. Xiang Ye shouldn’t have been able to purify this much meat yet. So why bring it all?
Still, meat left too long lost freshness. They really did need to figure out how to deal with it.
The reason Ying Li had brought it all back in the first place was because it was A-Rank Mutant Beast meat. He couldn’t bear to throw it away.
He’d vaguely sensed that eating Mutant Beast meat benefited his body.
Soon, the two of them reached the spot where they’d roasted meat the night before.
As soon as they stopped, Xiang Ye burst out, “Big Brother Ying, today I purified all the fresh meat! I also purified a big bag of the jerky!”
Ying Li was so stunned he couldn’t react for a long moment. “What did you say?”
